Curiosity in all things

Main menu

Post navigation

New Zealand Cuisine…Not as inspiring as New Zealand Music

I have been searching for New Zealand cuisine recipes all week and have been left uninspired. Nothing has struck my fancy.

Some of the interesting recipes depend on products we will be unable to procure here. For example, pipi fritters. I had discovered the recipe on food.com.

Pipi is not a warm liquid of dubious origin but a shell fish native to New Zealand.

Now, the entertainment value of asking for pipi at the fish monger’s might be high but I doubt the answer will be positive.

I dare you to locate pipi shell fish locally. If you are able to do so, please let me know.

New Zealand shell fish: Pipi

The same goes for: Paua, Kina, Cockles and Tuatua

Which leaves us with the classical lamb. New Zealand exports plenty of lamb. Meat and wool export revenues are around $7.2 billion dominated by meat and wool but also comprising hides, oils etc (Source: Federated Farmers of New Zealand) Lamb is a very costly piece of meat, it is one of my favorites as well.

That being said, most of the lamb recipes I have found are quite similar to some Irish dishes made previously and to some British dishes as well. Canada is also an ex-British colony so we share a similar culinary base.

So…been there…done that…got the fridge magnet (I collect fridge magnets and not T-Shirts) Lamb is out and New Zealand is also out for the time being. I will sample it when I visit this gorgeous country.

I expanded the New Zealand cuisine to New Zealand and Australia. To the greater continent of Oceania. There were more options…and to my surprise lots of burger choices. I will add Australian burgers to my Need to Try list.

That being said, I remember that Australian palettes like lots of salt, they do not have the same affection for sweets as we do. There is actually an East-West divide on salt versus sugar. Westerners are more keen towards sugary meals whereas Easterners tend towards salty meals.

In university, one of the girls I knew, Claudine, had spent 6 months in Australia. She had brought back Vegemite and she made us sample it. It’s extremely salty. Australians put it on toast in the morning instead of jams or cheeses.

Vegemite Spread…salty breakfast spread

I invited my parents to come to the celebration of everything Down Under.

Locating Kiwi music is a lot richer and easier. They have really great musicians.